42 Comments
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erik_skm's avatar

why do you use the term "pandora's box"? are you suggesting all myriod demons from hell are let loose by these cynical "speculations" so called?

Andrew Korybko's avatar

Yes. I'm also suggesting that once someone of significance starts speculating instead of waiting till an investigation is over, everyone else does too.

Feral Finster's avatar

More like the MSM now knows what The Party Line is on the matter, and there is nothing to be gained from deviating from that line.

Ismaele's avatar

Thanks for your analysis. I would also like to hear your opinion about the sinking of the Ursa Major freighter.

Nakayama's avatar

There is a difference between the Ukraine drone attack happening an hour earlier versus at the time of the plane making final approach versus hostile agents on the ground shoot a MANPAD. I think the damage is critical/fatal, but the blast was not very close. A hit by BUK would have fragmented the whole plane in the sky. The fact that pilots were able to crash landing a wounded Embraer-190 to crash landing with a 40%+ survival rate showed not only good piloting skills but also the blast payload was small. Hopefully more investigation results will be published by the authorities. Somebody also needs to talk to ground witnesses.

Cloud's avatar

I think what Russia needs to do is decisively win and end this conflict sooner rather than later. Otherwise it will cost her exponentially more as the time goes by. The Ursa Major was sunk, air space will have to be closed, eventually this will build back pressure inside Russia and the risk of the nato planned outcome will increase.

Feral Finster's avatar

It doesn't matter what Ukraine did. Russia will be blamed.

McDdd's avatar

"...Ukraine’s reckless drone attacks..."

You say that is if the US were somehow less responsible (than than the Ukraine, e.g. for long-range missile attacks within Russia). When does a spade become a shovel? Then it should be so called.

Dan Fournier's avatar

The fact that CNN offers this kind of piece goes to show me that the U.S. CIA killing mob was involved. As you pointed out some - of the usual hallmarks like unnamed officials as sources, speculative language such as "might" have been cause by Russian...

These are so obvious to me as what I call a propaganda "plant piece."

They have been doing these kinds of pieces for over a year now with regards to faux (ff) cyber attacks blamed on the usual of three boogeymen (Russia, China, Iran). I've documented over 10 instances of these in my addenda for my Cyber Attack Crisis article (see Addenda: https://fournier.substack.com/i/136598439/addenda).

They are very sloppy. Exposing them is easy. So, thank you for your measured work here Andrew. The only critique I would offer is when you say "so there’s no need for Russia to restrain itself from injecting its own speculation." They are actually usually more measured in their official responses to all kinds of incidents. Moreover, using such a tactic would bring them down to the lowly level of the US-NATO PsyWar operatives. I know that such speculation or propaganda is inevitably part of the greater information warfare, but I don't see how it benefits them on the world stage to use this approach, for it only diminishes their chance for support.

Pawel Podgorski's avatar

ukrabanderaland is a banditic entity run by zionists iSSrahelli ashkeNAZI chazars who have no respect for other lives, see what they have done in Gaza and Palestine. They totally exterminated Semitic Palestinians, so we can say that zionists iSSrahelli ashkeNAZI bandits are real Anti-Semites.

Eva's avatar

Out of curiosity do you have any idea how the tragedy is reported in Azerbaijan? Whom/what are they blaming at this point? Or are they staying calm and objective until there’s an investigation? Many thanks

Andrew Korybko's avatar

There's some reporting about how it might have mistakenly been hit by Russian air defenses but they're not maliciously blaming Russia. Their President actually just gave an interview with top Russian media where he extolled the benefits of allying with Russia:

https://korybko.substack.com/p/the-azerbaijani-president-reaffirmed

Eva's avatar

Interesting thank you!

CTEBEN's avatar

ukraine is nowhere near that path

Boris Petrov's avatar

IMPORTANT: Klitschko family lawyer Sukhanov (https://t.me/zimovskyAL/34736) was arrested while accepting a million dollar bribe, which he accepted for resolving issues related to the allocation of an elite land plot in the Kiev city council.

The money is vacuum-packed, $100,000 in each pack. It is clear that it is straight from American aid, unopened.

War Reports - 2024-12-28 - Main Report, by

@_askeptik

https://open.substack.com/pub/askeptic/p/war-reports-2024-12-28?r=byea&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

JG GL's avatar

The latest news reports, including an apology from President Putin, show some inconsistencies with this article's narrative.

Ohhh Really's avatar

The never ending push against BRICS+ will eventually fail. Unfortunately, they intend kill us all as they fail.

Ohhh Really's avatar

I wonder where they learned that tactic from? I think the aircraft that display the star of Remphan use this tactic. You know, the small hat club on the eastern Mediterranean.

Peti Bacsi's avatar

Better yet, maybe RU should declare that the Kiev airport and train station are both fair targets now.